Sports and Politics
Written on May 26th, 2018 by {"login"=>"jcbitshyd", "email"=>"journal@hyderabad.bits-pilani.ac.in", "display_name"=>"Journal Club, BPHC", "first_name"=>"", "last_name"=>""}From multiple nations bargaining for a coveted chance to host the
Olympics, to scandals involving selections in National and State sports
teams, politics and sports have always been intertwined in ways more
than one. For a large part of Indians, the tone of India-Pak relations
is set by the outcome of a cricket match and a person cheering a
Pakistani victory is declared an anti-national. People believe that
sporting at the highest levels of India, is not clean - and that's
probably not an unjustified opinion considering multiple allegations of
match-fixing, gambling in cricket influencing the matches, and the
ever-opaque BCCI.
Tournaments, which are supposed to be a celebration of sportsman
spirit and sports themselves, quickly turn ugly due to nationalism and
politics having a say. Such pettiness is quite prominent among Indians,
but quite less so among their other Asian counterparts.
Indians have been infamous for their overt displays of violent
nationalism during cricket matches. Somehow, the amount of solidarity
and love for the country seems to hit the roof during such matches...
but the public is not to blame. It's the politicians who have deeply
instilled the policy of divide and rule, due to which Indians have
started alienating other nations. Something clearly needs to change.
Article by Vedika Kulkarni.